Dance of the Damned

Vote Tally

"So you all have made your vote," Micah said, sitting on the ground with a grunt. "Sorry, I have been standing a little too long."

"Is everything alright, Roshi?" Carvill asked rushing to Micah with the others though he waved them away.

"I am fine," he said, sighing and then a smile came on his face. "Even if you all cast the vote, remember, the decision that has to be made is Nameless."

Everyone turned to the man on the ground with a dazed look on his face.

"You better make your decision quickly, Nameless," Thunder said, frowning. "If you chose tomorrow then I will have to prepare all through the night and tomorrow as well to keep as many people as I can safely."

"Will you be willing to risk everyone for the sake of your daughter?" Corey asked.

"Of course, a father should be able to risk everything for his daughter." He said blankly.

"If that is true," Clover walked to the man, standing in for of him and said, "why didn't you stop from the beginning? Roshi always gives us a set of instructions when we want to change something.

"We need to put in the work as well. Or ... do you think that he will be able to pull you out of it even if you do not listen to him?"

"I- I, I just. I just ... I .. well ..."

"You were the one that did not listen to him in the first place." She said, tilting her head to the side. "Isn't this on you?"

"I agree with the girl," Corey spoke up. "Will we have to suffer because he blatantly ignored Roshi's instructions?"

"If you had listened ... this would have been avoided," Thunder said, looking at him apologetically. "But ... I cannot let you save your daughter over my people. SO I will threaten you if I have to."

"You cannot do that, Thunder," Micah said, still sitting on the ground as Madam Lottie began to notice the red spot on his side. "You should know that."

"But-"

"The entire decision is up to him," Micah said once again, looking at the man as he sat there, a look of horror all over his face.

“However, you have said that we can still do as we wish, no matter his decision,” Thunder said, looking at Micah with calculating eyes. “Doesn’t that mean that I can choose whether to begin the next day or not? Since I am the one in charge of phase three.”

“You are. But he still has the final say.” Micah looked at him softly. “If he says tomorrow, it will begin tomorrow.”

“Can’t you save her?” The man looked at Micah, tears streaming down his face. “I never wanted it to be like this. I just … I couldn’t help myself.”

“Then, isn’t that your burden to bear?” Angel finally spoke up, something burning in her eyes behind the mask. “Roshi did all he could for you, aren’t you being a little bit of a brat.”

Micah laughed, “Is that really a word you should use, Angel? Especially to an old man?”

“I can’t help it.” She whined. “He really is behaving like a child that always got what he wanted and has always had someone to make sure he does not suffer the consequence of his actions. It irks me so bad that people like this exist.”

“Well, we cannot really blame them for their upbringing, can we?”

“I do.” She sighed, annoyed. “Still can't stop me from complaining.”

“I suppose so,” Micah said looking at Thunder. “What are you thinking of, your highness?”

“Nothing really.” He said, turning to Nameless. “Just this, as I have the freedom to do as I wish depending on the decision you make. I will deem you as a traitor of this kingdom and will have you punished for treason.”

“Thunder-“

“I am not threatening him, Roshi.” Thunder said quickly, trying to reassure Micah. “I am merely telling him what I plan to do. Isn't it better I tell him instead of just springing it on him later on?”

“That is true,” Micah said brightly. “The others can inform him too if they want him to be prepared as well.”

“Then, let me tell him.” Nepto walked to the man and whispered to him, “I do not care about you or your daughter and I could care less about what happens to either of you. But, if the decision you make deliberately results in the death or injury of anyone around me, you do not have to worry about this disaster, I will, personally take care of you myself.”

Instantly, the man’s face fell as he looked around the room. There are no allies for him here. No one is on his side, not even the woman who had always been on his side before.

Teri’s cold expression made him gulp in fear. I really messed up now, didn’t I?

He turned to Micah who still had this nonchalant look on his face, smiling at him though his white eyes make it seem like he is staring deep into his soul.

Either way … it is a lose-lose for me. He thought blankly staring at Micah. Why would he subject me to this? Why? Why can’t he just make the decision in the end and then tell me later that he was unable to save her? Why does it have to be me?

“Have you made your decision?” Micah asked, tilting his head to the side as he smiled kindly at Nameless.

“We are short on time here.” Thunder sneered. “Hurry up. I am not as free as you think I am.”

He tried to look at them all one more time, to appeal to their heart but, judging from their expressions, they do not care anymore.

The loss is too heavy as compared to the gain. No matter what he says, they will not be on his side and … no matter what he chooses, he will lose the same thing, his life.

___________________

“Dad!” The only person in his life that ever was on his side as his life fell apart. His daughter, Elizabeth.

The two have brown hair and people say that she takes after him so much that no one would doubt that the two are related. She was his pride and joy.

After the death of his wife, their family practically deserted them. He was a peasant and his wife was a noble that picked him off the streets.

She did not care for him, she had just been told to find a husband and picked a poor man off the streets. Someone she would not have trouble using.

But he didn’t mind it. He was finally able to live life comfortably and there was not much he had to do. But they now wanted a child so the two adopted a girl.

His wife refused to get a son, much to the distress of the family.

“I will pass everything down to my daughter.” She would say and that is what she kept very close to her heart, even writing it in her will.

One day, as he was going to check on his wife, he found the woman laying on her bed, cold and unmoving.

After that day, everything in his life fell apart. The family accused him of killing his wife but there was no proof. Though Elizabeth was to inherit everything when her mother died, the will mysteriously vanish.

So there was nothing they could prove and the family threw them out with some money. That was when the man got into gambling.

He was good, at first. After winning several times, this increased their money and they were able to live comfortably. But he became scared.

What if it runs out? I need to collect more.

And he began to gamble even more, losing money this time. No matter how much Elizabeth begged him to stop, he believed that the next time will be better. His luck will come back in the next round.

As you can expect, that never happened. And, one day, he woke up to find his daughter gone. With just a note left behind.

“I am leaving. Please take care of yourself.”

He became a distraught man, crashing into bars and drinking his troubles away with the money left. He still tried to gamble but the money was not enough to gamble with either.

One day, after getting kicked out of a bar, as he laid on a pile of trash, thinking of dying an angel appeared in front of him. He was white as the clouds in the sky and, as the sun came down, seemed like he shone.

“Who are you?” he asked, looking at the boy’s smile and vacant eyes.

“I am the Angel of Death.” The boy said beaming. “Would you like to save your daughter?”

He extended his small hands and, though Nameless did not know what he was talking about, he took those hands. "Yes."

____________

"Hmmm?" Micah asked, looking at the man mumbling to himself.

"The disaster," he said as everyone listened in, ready to take action depending on what he said. "Let it continue as planned."

Immediately Micah's face broke into a grin.